This video quite literally sums up the entire "saas bahu" culture that is prevalent in the Pakistani media society. Morning shows, television dramas & even ads promote this culture to an unhealthy extent. They’re trying to tell the audience that a woman’s role is confined to household work and that everything else that she does, no matter how talented she may be, isn’t acknowledged in case she wants to be a good or a ‘sughar bahu’
This goes on to show how toxic this culture can end up and how many women can deeply get hurt by it when all a woman stand for is shattered because she’s not fond of doing housework. Firstly, inviting a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law for the sole purpose of creating drama on national television is not only derogatory to the entire womanhood. It also fosters the concept that the very presence of a daughter in law threatens the authority of the mother, because both attempt to gain control over the son/husband. Men are highlighted as prized beings that women fight over because perhaps, they have nothing better to do with their lives. Secondly, women undergo massive scrutiny when it comes to marriage proposals; they are either too educated or too outgoing, and finding a balance is almost impossible. Highly qualified and talented women are confined to the walls of one house and denied the opportunity for professional growth. Such women are denied the right to live their life on their own accord and have little to no autonomy. This concept is materialized in medical schools in Pakistan, where a significant proportion of women enroll in colleges however barely any practice as doctors. Furthermore, this culture of morning shows is also very toxic. Inviting these people and having them express such opinions reinforces these beliefs.
I would like to mention how recently in one morning show the host had engineers of a formula one team over. inviting experience, well read people is an amazing thing to do in th emorningn shows, as it could add more knowledge to the viewers before they start their days.
Unfortunately, depsite there being such a good chance to conduct a productive morning show the host turned it into a joke. It appeared as if there was absolutely zero interest of the host in that subject, she kept on asking irrelevant questions. This was not only disrespectful to the hosts but was also a shame to the industry as it appeared that the hosts are not able to conduct shows…
This whole video is so problematic but the thing that highlights the essence of morning shows in Pakistan is how the host is nodding along and encouraging the woman. Literally 80 percent of the time she is either giving tips on how to lighten your skin tone or how to lose weight. There are so many interesting things happening in the world, so many topics one can choose from and educate their audience but our hosts are still stuck on our society's "beauty standards". If your write her show's name on You tube you will only find videos related to "beauty and health tips".